Barry McWilliams' Mission to Uganda: Prayer Page

I will be part of a team from University Presbyterian Church in Las Cruces, NM. doing church planting in Western Uganda We will be encouraging two churches already started in the Hoima region and we will be working with the Presbyterian Church in Uganda in a church planting movement into the nearby regions. I anticipate preaching, crusade work, door-to-door evangelism, and possibly some teaching.

For setting the dates and making the necessary arrangements for the conferences.

For the gathering and equipping of the team - Don MacDonald who went with me in 2003 and 2005 is likely to be going as well as a couple of laymen from our 2005 trip.

For the continued building up of the support teams - praise the Lord for those who have committed themselves to pray, and for the support already given.

For our individual preparations and my study and talks preparations.

For God's enablement: support, visas, and all necessary monies for our team in going to Uganda.

As we enter the country, Pray daily in May for . . .

for physical stamina for all involved - ability to go the extra mile

for steadfast commitment of each team to giving their all for Jesus Christ

for boldness for our teams to reach out and extend themselves in love

for sensitivity to the Holy Spirit's leading

for peace of mind - trusting in the sovereignty of God in trials

for discretion from God in areas of personal conduct

for love and compassion for the lost

That the Holy Spirit will bring those He is calling to attend these conferences and will open their hearts to receive the seed of the Good News

for awareness of the spiritual warfare around them

for willingness to pray earnestly

for safety in travel and health as we minister in Uganda

for defeat of all of Satan's opposition to the team in every area of attack

for creativity in our teaching skills

That we might be an encouragement to those who live and labor for Jesus in Uganda

And uphold our wives and loved ones at home while we are gone - and mostly out of touch!

(Please Print this out and use it or my handyTrip Prayer Calendar --- --- Bookmark this page and check back for Updates)

Preparation notes:

October 29th I am packed and ready to go. Some more funds came in from individuals which I will take along with me - another $600!. I am hoping that some more was received by University Presbyterian Church as well - though I haven't heard from them. I will be sending out updates as I am able via my eldrbarry@gmail.com account. I created a Prayer Calendar on Sunday and sent that out via e-mails. I would appreciate your prayers.

October 21st I am begining my last week of preparation. I have been sending out e-mails to personal and church friends, and some who have used my VBS materials and indicated an interest in my trip urging them to pray like "Aaron and Hur" (Exodus 14) for me or the next few weeks. I have received a little bit more financial support. John has reported that the team's funds are short of our goal by about $10,000 which may curtail our ministry there some - we do have enough for our tickets and in country expenses. He leaves for Europe today. The Team funds will be wired tomorrow. But I can still take some funds along as cash if I receive them by October 28th - and it occurred to me this afternoon that donations can be sent to me via PayPal - my email account is eldrbarry@eldrbarry.net. I have gotten a donations of 15 sets of Linleigh Roberts Biblical Foundations booklets to take along. I have made a lot of "Wordless book bead bracelets" and I have an ample supply of balloons. I am still hoping for the provision of a couple of Study Bibles to take along, as well as some soccer balls, scented soaps, and maybe some suit coats. Pray That I will have ample gifts. I ought to take gifts for the pastors and their wives in Bunyoro. Please pray for my teaching and preaching preparations - as I dig through old sermon notes and teaching materials, wondering what I should take.

There will be a national conference for the Church Army Missioners and Evangelists at Henry's Kayumba House on November 10th - 13 - I will be teaching along with Henry Krabbendam, John Pickett, LeRon West, and Titus Baraka. They haven't had a vision retreat for over five years and are very anxious for us to come. Pray especially for this conference and our Anglican brothers to who we will be ministering.

October 10th Tickets have been purchased. I will be leaving October 29th - returning November 15th. I have about $2400 of support in, so I am short there by about $1000, which is discouraging. Most of the funds that have come have come from VBS contributions to my mission fund instead of in reponse to the letters I sent out in August. Yesterday I went to the doctor and got prescriptions for Larium and Typhoid oral. At this time, I have no benevolent items to take along. And I've found out I will have only one week's vacation pay for the three weeks I will be gone, I had hoped to have another week's vacation from next year's vacations, but won't. So I could use prayer for my encouragement, provisions for our needs both on the mission and at home, and for my preparations for the trip - now less than three weeks away.

September 24th John sent me my tickets and itinerary. He reports that we will be in Hoima, Mabale, and Kagady for outreach and ministry. and he hopes we have a conference somewhere, but it is looking iffy at this time.

September 10th - My wife and I flew to Hungary to visit our daughter and family and greet our new grandson, Benji, born August 3rd, 2007. Everyone thinks he looks like his grampa. I came home on September 20th and Marianne stayed two more weeks, returning home on October 4th.

July 16th Word has come from John that the team from Denver has pulled out of the mission. We may have between 5 and 9 on our team. Part of the team will arrive in Uganda on the 25th of October, Working primarily in Hoima, and leaving November 5th. I will be be meeting John in London for the flight to Uganda, arriving on November 1st, we will have about a week in Hoima, and will be doing a conference with Titus and all the evangelists and missioners in the Church of Uganda, possibly another Pastor's conference in Lira, until recently closed because of warfare, or a trip to Rwanda. I still need quite a bit of support - both prayer and financial.

June 26th Word has come as to the revised dates for the Mission. Two Teams will be going, one lead by Randy McMillan will be departing on October 23rd and returning November 6th - with ministry in Mukono and Hoima - 11 days. Team Two led by John Pickett leaves October 30th and returns November 16th with ministry in Hoima, follwed by a couple of conferences - 14 days. I expect to be with the latter group. Some may overlap from one team to the other with 21 days. We have a challenging budget of $60,000 to raise for team expenses, cost of conferences, individual ministries, evangelism, property purchases and mercy ministry. I have had indications from a number of those using my VBS materials of a willingness to make donations - pray that they will follow through generously on their intentions. As of June 11th, I have $1,525 towards my goal of $3,500. Transportation will be $2,000 - $2,500.I have signed up for the Chalmer's Center Distance Learning class on the Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry for August and September.

April 24th Due to the cost and scarcity of plane tickets in July and various schedule conflicts, the Mission Trip is being rescheduled to Early November 2007 or January 2008. I won't know until early June the exact dates.

April 19th Though I have sent out around 40 letters, and a significant number of e-mails, John Pickett reports that only a couple of responses to them have been received at University Presbyterian Church to date, which is personally very discouraging. He also reports that a team from Denver will likely be going in November. An opportunity for a Conference with the Anglicans in Nebbi or Lyra has also arisen. University Presbyterian Church has a vision statement for their Uganda work.

March 22nd I have sent out more letters this week. John reports that tickets to Uganda are difficult to find and expensive - $2500 to $3000 - and that there are more people wanting to go as well, beyond our team of seven. He is pondering a date change to a less travelled season. Pray for both adequate support to come in and for tickets that will not cut heavily into our ministry funds.

February 27th I will start sending out support letters this next week - pray that they will be well and generously received. I am also considering taking a couple of On Line courses with the Chalmer's Institute for Economic Development at Covenant College as part of my preparation - One class How to Do Short-Term Missions Without Doing Long-Term Harm is from April 16th to May 4th and the other, Foundations and Principles of Holistic Ministry would follow May 7th to June 1st. I already own and have read most of the texts. Cost for the two would be $130. I am also working a little on the Kiswahili language. And I am continuing to read about and ponder the African view of money.

February 10th I have been reading Henry Stanley's book: Through the Dark Continent: Volume 1. It has been quite interesting as much of the second half deals with his time in Uganda (1875-6) and having been doing a bit of web research on the history of the various cultures/ kingdoms of Uganda - his references to various tribes makes a lot more sense. I have been researching the various language groups on the web - hopefully this will become a web page sometime in the near future. I have also "stepped up" my walking - aiming to get my weight down before I go.

January 25th Dates are now tenitively set now for July 23rd-August 9, 2007. The UPres Mission has been clarified - focused on church planting among the Banyoro (Hoima, Kabaale and Masindi districts.) I have been able to change my vacation to the first two weeks of the trip, the third week will have to be a week off without pay. In the past few days I have updated my web materials to reflect this new information, including the pdf packet. I still want to do a page on Bunyoro with links and information and have done some web research on that already - eventually I would like to expand it to an intro to the Kingdoms and Cultures and Languages of Uganda. I also ordered some background reading matter as well - African Friends and Money Matters by David E. Maranz; Foreign to Familiar: A Guide to Understanding Hot - And Cold - Climate Cultures by Sarah A. Lanier, Into Africa: Intercultural Insights by Yale Richmond and Phyllis Gestrin and the Lonely Planet Swahili Phrasebook. Just about ready to start again on writing letters.

January 19th John called and informed me of a change in the dates for the mission trip. Due to rising air costs and the shortness of time to raise funds, and availability problems for some of the team, March was too soon and unworkable - and now our sights are set on possible late July, early August, 2007. Pray that my employer will be able to give me the time off.

January 12th Presbytery meetings in Federal Way - I will make a presentation of need to them.

January 9th, 2007 - John replies to my e-mail inquiry regarding the mission trip (and my need to get my vacation requests made), informing me that a trip is planned for March 5th -22nd, 2007. I called and confirmed the information. That gives us two months of preparation and fund-raising - talk about a faith challenge!!

October, 2006 John Pickett attended our Presbytery meeting. He mentioned the possibility of a Spring mission trip to Uganda focused on the west.